The Harlander project in Belfast has taken the lead for autonomous vehicle development. But the region’s lack of a legislative framework and organisational infrastructure to oversee autonomous transport is stopping momentum, writes Pavel Barter
Ross James, director of Solutions at Oxa, which created the software for Harlander, described AVA as “a great example of a proactive approach; accelerating the positive impact AI can deliver while also addressing potential risk.”
“But this only applies in Great Britain. It is now for the Northern Ireland Assembly to decide whether to enact its own legislation… to enable the future deployment of truly driverless vehicles.”
From 2026, self-driving taxis and buses will be permitted on the roads in GB. NI, on the other hand, is being left behind. “In the north there is a legislative gap,” Mike Dawson, people and digital transformation director at Belfast Harbour told Ulster Business.
Harlander, which operates on Harbour lands, serves as a blueprint for what is possible. The eight-seater vehicle runs a free service every 20 minutes between Titanic Quarter railway station and Catalyst; a safety operator is on board, but the vehicle is operating autonomously. Belfast Harbour has its own bylaws, so it is able to run Harlander on its roads for public use.
“There are 30km of private roads in the estate that we can go in and utilise these services,” Mike Dawson says. “You couldn’t do that outside of the harbour today. Here’s a place that we can do validation and verification in a proven trusted environment that represents a city within the city. We have colleges, people who live there, visitors, cruise ships, an airport. The harbour is an enabler for a range of organisations and a range of technology providers. We want people to come and see the art of what’s possible.”
Harlander runs until late September 2025. It is a concept, a blueprint, of what the future in Northern Ireland might look like under the correct legislative framework. Yet it also illustrates the requirement for an infrastructure to monitor and oversee it. Who will act as the authorised self-driving entity in Northern Ireland?
“Nobody is there today,” Mike says. “Bus companies aren’t interested. A lot of the traditional transport companies aren’t necessarily interested. You might see new companies stepping into that space rather than traditional bus companies. Who’s going to fulfil those roles is a gap today. How do you find the right operating models where people are willing to step in and do this? We know from bringing the consortiums together how thin on the ground the supply base is in the UK.”
Global end-to-end examples include Waymo, which operates a commercial autonomous taxi service in cities across the US. But they have had billions in finance. “I don’t foresee that being the situation [in Northern Ireland],” Mike says. “I think you’ll get software providers and vehicle providers joining up. Then you’ll have somebody else running the service.”
The autonomous vehicle revolution has a lot to offer local businesses, whether from a public transport perspective or getting involved in creating the technologies. Harlander was designed in partnership with several companies, including Belfast’s own Angoka which is based at the Catalyst innovation centre and oversaw the cyber security for remote operation of the vehicle.
Harlander, explains Ross James at Oxa, “integrates cutting-edge technology from various specialists, with local innovators like Angoka playing a vital role in addressing a specific and crucial aspect of the project: securing the infrastructure to be safe, resilient and secure.”
Autonomous vehicles require strong security to offset threats of remote hacking and data breaches. Traditional GPS communications can be a weak spot. During Harlander’s run the local mobile network in Belfast went down briefly. Harlander “was reliant on that for the GPS, the location of the vehicle. It caused one or two problems, but nothing significant,” says Mike. Oxa said their technologies are able to overcome communication barriers through the use of “multiple sensors and modalities… for redundant and robust localisation. This means that we aren’t limited to operating in places with a GPS signal – enabling operation in all environments, whether that’s an underground mine with no GPS at all, or a busy urban environment.”
Belfast Harbour has been in discussions with local universities about research into new innovations around autonomous transport. Queen’s University Belfast, for example, is exploring a project that aims to improve positioning systems through the use of new quantum technologies. It will allow aircraft to negate GPS jamming, submarines to operate for months without connection to satellites, and autonomous vehicles to operate in GPS denied areas.
“Quantum positioning is a promising technology that can address some of the most challenging positioning problems in autonomous vehicle systems, where current, conventional technologies are unreliable,” according to Professor Mehrdad Dianati, who is heading up the Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing (QEPNT) project. “Researchers at Queen’s are excited to contribute to QEPNT’s cutting-edge research on evaluating and designing practical quantum-positioning systems for autonomous vehicles.”
Autonomous vehicles have the potential to improve road safety in Northern Ireland, by reducing the potential for human error (which accounts for an estimated 88% of all accidents). But, without necessary legislation in place, they are going nowhere for the time being. Belfast Harbour has had “conversations with the Department For Infrastructure to see what their plans are,” says Mike Dawson. “But certainly, they have a long way got to go to catch up with where GB is with regards to the legislation.”
Liz Kimmins, the Infrastructure Minister, was recently asked if she would consider a pilot scheme for self-driving taxis in Northern Ireland, similar to an upcoming scheme in GB. She said: “The proposed self-driving taxi pilot scheme is based within the legislative framework in Great Britain for the use of fully autonomous vehicles without a safety driver. There is no such framework here.” But department will, she said, “monitor the progress of the pilot scheme.”
From a societal perspective, organisations like the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in Belfast are also keeping close tabs on what is going on. The technology, they believe, could revolutionise the lives of thousands. “There is much discussion amongst blind and partially sighted people who are unable to drive a conventional vehicle, about the future prospect of travelling or even owning a driverless car,” Colum Delaney from RNIB, said.
“The idea is exciting and has potential to make travel even more accessible and inclusive. Blind and partially sighted people are already navigating increasingly automated streetscapes, not just as future passengers, but as pedestrians today. The true potential of autonomous vehicles will only be realised when they’re safe, accessible, and intuitive for everyone, from the pavement to the passenger seat. RNIB urges industry and government to design inclusively from the outset, engage meaningfully with blind and partially sighted people, and build transport systems that work for all.”